The Masonic Order’s Freemasons’ Hall in downtown Edmonton still serves the secretive fraternity. (CBC)
(by CBC News, Aug 14, 2018)
The following story is part of Capital Foundations, an ongoing series exploring Edmonton’s architectural history.
Listen in weekly on CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM for the latest episode, and for a little excavation of Edmonton history with architect Darrel Babuk.
There’s a veil of secrecy over one of Edmonton’s oldest and most mysterious organizations — but venturing through the doors of its downtown headquarters offers a peek into some of the mysteries.
The Freemasons’ Hall, at 10318 100th Ave., has long been available as a venue for function rentals but is little known to most Edmontonians.
Just like the Masonic brotherhood it was designed to serve, the four-storey, Gothic-inspired hall has a sense of grandeur and mystique — a respect for history and rich sense of symbolism, said Edmonton architect Darrel Babuk.
“It’s not very large but it has richly complex spaces,” Babuk said. “It’s a really cool building.”
The building, completed in 1931, is one of the few surviving Masonic lodges in the city. It is replete with old texts, rich engravings and fraternity artifacts including gongs, tracing boards and richly embroidered robes.
The property’s crowning jewel is…
